Edithburgh is a small town on the south-east corner of

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula, known as Guuranda by the original inhabitants, the Narungga people, is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula ...

situated on the coastline of Salt Creek Bay, in the state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. Edithburgh is about west of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

across

Gulf St Vincent Gulf St Vincent, sometimes referred to as St Vincent Gulf, St Vincent's Gulf or Gulf of St Vincent, is the eastern of two large inlets of water on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, the other being the larger Sp ...

, but away by road. Edithburgh is in the

Yorke Peninsula Council The Yorke Peninsula Council is a Local government areas of South Australia, local government area in South Australia. Its boundaries include most of the Yorke Peninsula. The main Council office is at Maitland, South Australia, Maitland; the coun ...

, the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly (also known as the lower house) is one of two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assem ...

electoral district of Narungga Narungga is a single-member Electoral districts of South Australia, electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It was created by the redistribution of 2016, and was contested for the first time at the 2018 South Australian sta ...

and the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

Division of Grey The Division of Grey is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in South Australia. The division was one of the seven established when the former Division of South Australia was redistributed on 2 ...

History

In the

Narangga language The Narungga people, also spelt Narangga, are a group of Aboriginal Australians whose traditional lands are located throughout Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. Their traditional language, one of the Yura-Thura grouping, is Narungga language, ...

of the Indigenous Narungga people, Edithburgh was known by the place name Pararmarati. Some sources give the pronunciation "Barram-marrat-tee". The first European pioneers arrived in the 1840s and were sheep graziers and pastoralists. With closer settlement, in 1869 the Marine Board fixed a site for a jetty to service the developing farming district. An adjacent town was then surveyed, the layout closely emulating (on a smaller scale) that of

, with a belt of parklands. Edithburgh was named by Governor

Sir James Fergusson James Fergusson may refer to: Politics *Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet (1832–1907), Governor of South Australia, New Zealand and Bombay *Sir James Fergusson, 8th Baronet (1904–1973), Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire *Sir James Fergusson, Lord Ki ...

after his wife Edith, who died in 1871. The new jetty opened in 1873.Collins, Neville: ''The Jetties of South Australia'', (Adelaide 2010)

2019 November Fires

From 20 to 21 November 2019, at least 11 homes were destroyed or damaged by fires burning across the Yorke Peninsula. On 21 November, a stubble fire threatened Edithburgh, Coobowie and Wool Bay as it burnt towards the coast, fanned by strong south-westerly winds. At the height of the emergency, many residents of the area took shelter overnight in the Edithburgh Town Hall. There were no deaths, and it was found to have been caused by a power network fault.

Industries

Edithburgh originally developed as a port for servicing the pastoralist pioneers. In the 1870s grain farming became a mainstay of the local economy, which it still is. At the turn of the 20th Century additional industries were established in the form of gypsum mining and

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

refining. There are vast salt lakes in the area, from which salt was scraped and exported as far as

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Among those refineries was the Standard Salt Company, operated by C. T. McGlew. The jetty became a busy hub for exporting these commodities, as well as unloading supplies. Nowadays the jetty is used mostly for recreational fishing and is a popular

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

site. There is also a small fishing and prawning fleet based there. The town is now overshadowed by the 55 wind turbines of the

Wattle Point Wind Farm Wattle Point Wind Farm is a wind farm near Edithburgh on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, which has been operating since April 2005. When it was officially opened in June of that year it was Australia's largest wind farm at . The install ...

, located southwest of the town and opened in April 2005.

Tourism

Occupying a commanding position on the coastline at semi-circular Salt Creek Bay, Edithburgh is noted for its magnificent seascapes which include steep rocky cliffs and sandy beaches. Troubridge Island can be seen offshore. As a result, tourism is now a growth industry. It is a popular holiday destination with a variety of accommodation types available including a caravan park. The Troubridge Hotel and the Edithburgh Hotel sit diagonally opposite each other at the intersection of Blanche and Edith Streets, both named after Governor Fergusson's daughters. For those who prefer not to swim in the open sea, the town has a unique seawater swimming pool constructed at the shoreline. Its sheltered waters are refreshed with each rising tide.

Diving and snorkelling

Edithburgh jetty is regarded as one of South Australia's best scuba diving sites. Access is easy thanks to steps on northern and southern sides of the structure."Edithburgh"
BenAndCamera.com The jetty extends eastwards into

and is 170 m in length. The jetty is supported by pylons in groups of four. Divers and snorkellers can safely and closely observe dense, multi-coloured colonies of temperate corals and sponges on the jetty pylons. The pylons also provide refuges for various fish,

crustacea Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

nudibranchs Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs, belonging to the order Nudibranchia, that shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have be ...

and other

marine invertebrates Marine invertebrates are invertebrate animals that live in marine habitats, and make up most of the macroscopic life in the oceans. It is a polyphyletic blanket term that contains all marine animals except the marine vertebrates, including the ...

. Several of the state's iconic marine species can be seen beneath or near the jetty, including the

Leafy sea dragon The leafy seadragon (''Phycodurus eques'') or Glauert's seadragon, is a marine fish. It is the only member of the genus ''Phycodurus'' in the family Syngnathidae, which includes seadragons, pipefish, and seahorses. It is found along the s ...

and the Striped pyjama squid. The maximum dive depth is 10–12 m and site is rewarding for visitors of all experience levels.

Jetty maintenance and habitat loss

In December 2013, maintenance works were conducted at the Edithburgh jetty by a contractor working for the local council. An estimated 50 jetty pylons were removed from the periphery of the jetty. They were either sawed off at the seabed, or pulled up from the substrate. This resulted in an immediate loss of

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

and

marine life Marine life, sea life or ocean life is the collective ecological communities that encompass all aquatic animals, aquatic plant, plants, algae, marine fungi, fungi, marine protists, protists, single-celled marine microorganisms, microorganisms ...

, upsetting many members of the

and

marine conservation Marine conservation, also known as ocean conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas through planned management in order to prevent the over-exploitation of these marine resources. Marine conservation is i ...

community. Jetty pylons had been assessed some years prior by the State Government's Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure (now known as the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure) and identified as a public liability risk. Impacts to the marine environment or the site's iconic status as a dive tourism hotspot do not appear to have been considered by DPTI or the local council. Recreational divers from M.E. Dive Club witnessed the early works and arranged a group of divers to informally assess the damage the following weekend. The pylon removal works were not publicly advertised nor was the dive or tourism community consulted on the works. The Scuba Divers Federation of South Australia and the Marine Life Society of South Australia both responded to the issue by drafting letters to responsible Government bodies.Oldland, Jenn
"Pylon removals impact marine life"
''Yorke Peninsula Country Times'' (17 December 2013). Retrieved 2014-01-03.

Gallery

Image:Seahorse*.JPG, Seahorse beneath Edithburgh Jetty Image:Pyjama squid.jpg, Striped Pyjama squid mating under Edithburgh jetty Image:Crab *.jpg, Hermit crab beneath Edithburgh jetty Image:Rock ling.jpg, Rock ling beneath Edithburgh jetty Image:Edithburgh sunrise.jpg, Sunrise over the boat harbour Image:edithburgh-coastline-sunset.jpg, Edithburgh coastline at sunset Image:edithburgh-edith-street-sunset.jpg, Edith St at sunset, looking from the jetty Image:edithburgh-jetty-dark.jpg, Edithburgh jetty at night Image:edithburgh-jetty-sunset.jpg, Edithburgh jetty approaching sunset

People

* Jamie Tape - AFL footballer

Climate

References

;Notes ;Citations

External links

* *
Yorke Peninsula: EdithburghScuba Diving the Edithburgh Jetty from Diving Adelaide
{{authority control Coastal towns in South Australia Gulf St Vincent Port cities in South Australia Underwater diving sites in Australia Fishing communities in Australia